Comedian and actor Bob Saget – who made his debut growing up in Philadelphia – was found dead Sunday at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Orlando, Florida.
He was 65 years old. Police said there was no sign of foul play or drug use.
TMZ was the first to report the death of the artist best known for his role as Danny Tanner on the 1990s sitcom “Full House”.
Mr Saget, a Temple University graduate who grew up in Mount Airy, told The Inquirer in 2006 that his stand-up career began when he was 17.
“I had made a film called Blintz beach blanket, ”he said.“ I showed it on Cedar Road in Elkins Park in college. There were 300 parents there. It was the worst movie ever made, but I stood up and stood up to present it.
He found the experience of making people laugh so rewarding that he began taking the train to New York for open mic parties at comedy clubs such as the Improv and Catch a Rising Star.
While attending Temple University in the mid-1970s, Mr. Saget prepared a skit he performed with another man at the University of Pennsylvania.
“It was just when Saturday Night Live started, ”he said. “We had put on these four hour shows. They would last forever. We would be in the dorms, at Harry’s Coffee Shop. We would go to Pagano. They would pay us for pizza.
After graduating from Temple in 1978, Mr. Saget moved to Los Angeles. For the next seven years, he was MC at the Comedy Store, working among comedians such as David Letterman and Robin Williams, Michael Keaton, Billy Crystal, Jay Leno, Johnny Carson, Redd Foxx and Richard Pryor.
He also warmed up the crowd ahead of the recordings of Bosom buddies, the sitcom Tom Hanks-Peter Scolari. The producer then hired Saget to play Danny Tanner on Full house, in which he played a morning television host in San Francisco.
Mr. Saget did something like that in real life. He was co-host of the CBS Morning program in the late 1980s, but was fired after five months. His next big concert was Full house.
The Orange County Sheriff’s Office released a statement that said:
“Earlier today, MPs were called to the Ritz-Carlton Orlando in Grande Lakes for a call regarding an unconscious man in a hotel room. The man was identified as Robert Saget and declared dead on the spot. Detectives found no signs of foul play or drug use in this case. “
